Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-06-23
LITTLE DANDY.


eIittle Dandy" the boys called him.
He Joined orr company in Yicksburg
iu- before the siege. and none of us
felt enough interest in him to make any
inquiries, His extreme youth Che was
about l6) would have excited our SYM
patkv under other circumstances, but
the war-worn veterans in the trenches
had no use for the curled darlings Of
the parlor and Little Dandy's appear
ance was against him. The lad wore
the gray uniform Of private, but it
was of the very finest materal-iiner
than anything worn by orr Generals.
His buttons had an unsoldierly glitter
lie ~portcd white handkerchiefs, carried
q peck, '-mirror, and every morning he
combed and curled his golden locks I'M
Ill they looked like a girls tresses.
"Hello, Little Dandy" yelled the sol
diers, whenever the young fellow pass
ed them, TO this rough saIutation he
always responded with q bow and a
smile, but his soft ways did not win
favor. When we met in town we pass
ed him by without notice, and in camp
we let him alone Little Dandy was
proud after a fashion-too proud to no.
ticc the Sights heaped upon him He
went through the routine duties with
out compaint, but nothing could induce
him TO abandon his pocket mirror and
his fancy toilets.
The siege was well under way and
we were no better acquainted With Lit
tie Dandy than at first. He shared our
meals Of moldy corn bread and mule
meat without a mumur, and it must
be admitted that this raised him some
what in our estimation. But we still
had TO learn what a true heart beat be-
hind those glittering buttons. An an
Gle Of the euemy's works was danger
ou-ly close to our intrenchments and
we had to keep our heads well shelter
ed. When we raised hat on the muz-
zle of musket it was invariably rid
died with bullets. One morning we
found our men being picked off by an
unseen shaIpshootcr ut the rate Of five
or six an hour. This astonished us, be-
cause we were all keeping under cover,
and the men who were killed all occu-
pied wen protected positions.
Where was the ahalpshootcrP This
was the question uppermost in every
mind We were not long in satisfying
ourselves on this point. just outside
of the angle Of the Federal works stood
u giant oak, whose leafy top afforded
an admirable covert for an active rifle
man. A yigilant scrutiny convinced
MS that the man who was doing such
deadly work i'm our ranks was conceal
ed in this tree. To reach Il h. must
have made his way there during the
night, and he would have TO remain
there all day. But we could not stand
it even one day. His aim was SO I'M
erring that every time his rifle cracked
"a Confederate bit the dust We tried
rattling discharge of musketry. but
moment later the report Of the rifle
rang out, and another of our comrades
fell.
twas evident that from our position,
it was almost impossible to hit the Fed
eral riHeman. If we succeeded in
bringing him down itwould be by some
lucky random shot Possibly Il man
outside the works would be able to
draw bead ON our wary foeman, but
he would be under the guns Of the enc
my and there would be thousand
chances against him.
"Tu Kill him ordien cried a shrill
voice
Good God!it's Little Dandy" shout
ed dozen men.
At the risk of our lives we peeped
over our brplstworks Little Dandy
had already made his way TO the open
space between the works and was Rdg-
inc around on the right of the tree.
The Fcderals saw what he was up to
and fired a broadside. When the smoke
cleared away and they saw the boy
with flushed face and streaming hair
aiming his gun at the top of the old OAK
there was tremendous cheer troll
ed along both lines-the hoarse Federal
shout mingling with the wild Rebel
yell.
Bang! A man in blue came tumb-
ling and crashing through the branches
Of the tree and struck the earth with
dun thud Ii was the sharpshooter.
time twas from the Confedcrates alone,
A sheet Of flame hlazed along the Fed
eral works. but when the smoke lifted
we saw Little Dandy coming full tilt in
our direction with smile on his face
'Three chcGr- for Little Dandyr'
leapcd from hundred. of Threats as the
boy yaultcd over the breastworks, and
we rushed down upon him to hug him,
in our frenzy of admiration and JOY.
But Little Dandy sunk down upon
heap of loose dirt and then we saw the
crimson stains upon his breast
II kept my promise he painted.
And then, as om Colonel took his hand
the little chap looked up into his face
and said;
I'm afraid I've made poor soldier
Sometimes I've bothered You / know.
Please remember that l was not very
strong aud-and | did the best that |
could